Royal Garrison Church. Constructive and structural analysis.
Vera-García, Estera; Alonso Durá, Adolfob; Llopis-Pulido, Verónicab and Almerich-Chulia, Anab
Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain, b Department of Continuum Mechanics and Theory of Structures, Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
Abstract:
The Royal Garrison Church in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in the South East of England is an ecclesiastical building dating from the thirteenth century, originally founded as part of a hospital complex. Its masonry walls are constructed primarily of limestone, and it has a central nave, two aisles and a chancel. Throughout history it has had different uses and it has undergone some morphological variations, but with its restoration in the Victorian period carried out by the architect G.E Street the present building retains many similarities with the medieval one. The most noticeable detail of the construction is the absence of its central nave roof which was destroyed during a bombing raid in the Second World War. Currently the church is generally in good condition and is open to the public for part of the year, but no religious services are performed inside. In this research project the historical and constructional aspects of the church are analysed in detail, as well as providing an assessment of the structural condition and proposing a new roof to replace that which was lost in 1941.
The structural analysis provides the needed knowledge to understand that the constructive-structural logic the Church was built up with determines its own structure, which clearly based on the Early English Gothic. This style retains characteristics typical of the Norman style, recognizable in the construction. It is about an analysis based on the evaluation and checking of the specific wall system.
In order to reach this demonstration a three-dimensional structural model of the original construction of the Thirteenth Century, as a representative volume has been made. This model allows us to understand the Church structural behaviour facing shear stress and to obtain conclusions to clarify the structural doubts that have been set out.
Keywords: English Gothic; Damage model; Finite Elements; Heritage conservation.